Hoisting apparatus



M.. E. LOHR.

HOISTING APPARATUS.

Amlcmou min Nov. 8. 19.20.

f f. .y W W 66 w m A W M6 P w .w Mg w MICHAEL EABL LOHR, OF WESTMONT BOROUGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

HoIs'rING APPARATUS.

specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 25, 1921.

Application filed November-6, 1920. Serial No. 422,131.

T0 all who'm| z't may concern Be it known that I, MICHAEL EARL LOHR, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of vWestmont, in the county of Cambria and State of Pennsylvania, (whose post-Ofiice address is Johnstown, Pennsylvania,) have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hoisting Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to hoistingtapparatus with particular reference to that class of the same which uses a car or bucket which is hoisted and lowered by a cable, vchain or other fleXible member attached thereto, and which bucket is arranged to dump its contents at a predetermined height into a bin, hopper or otherwise for further use or disposal of its contents.

My bucket 01' container may either travel vertio'ally or at an -inclination as desired, as will be readily understood, but for the purpose of'simplicity of 'the drawings and description I will confine the same to travel which is substantially ,verticaL My bucket is preferably provided with a lower wheel or pair of Wheels adapted to rollin or be guided 'by an upright guide or a set of upright guides, and an upper wheel or pair of Wheels which are arranged to be guided by another upright guide or another set of upright guides, and when the bucket reaches the ordinary upper limit of its travel the upper Wheels are defiected from their prior position by annular or curved guides in such a way as to overturn the bucket to discharge its load, and upon lowering the bucket the Wheels return into the upright guidesand the bucket assumes its upright and lower position to receive a further load.

The cable which hoists -and llowers my bucket may be operated by any suitable winding apparatus (not shown) and may be provided with an automatic or manually controlled stop as desired to stop the travel of the bucket when desired. The 'windig apparatus may have a limit switch for the upward movement of the bucket and for the lower position of the bucket, or the upper, lower or either switch may be secured to the hoisting frame and adapted to be operated by the bucket or projections on the bucket itself, but this forms no part of my invention and it is not necessary to illustrate the same.

However, I have discovered that with such an apparatus the travel of the bucket of a hoist whether automatically or manually stopped cannot always be exactly controlled, and particularlywhen the load in the bucket is lighter than usual there will be' a tendency to a' considerable over-travel at the upper point, which by reason of the prior constructions will wreck the apparatus or the guides of same, the bucket or portions thereof, or break or strain the Cable or the hoisting vdrum and its attachments.

In order to obviate this difficulty I provide special forms of dumping guides which coperate with the Wheels of the bucket and also provide an eXcess height of the other guides so that any reasonable over-travel of 'the bucket may be allowed, which will obviate the difiiculties above mentioned. I also 'provide one or more contact fingers which'may be of curved or other form secured to the bucket, which coperate with a roller or stop secured to the frame near the dumping guides' so that even should the bucket have an over-travel the guide Wheels of same will remain in their proper and respective guides both during the upward over-travel and the downward return, thereby'abs'olutely insuring the easy movement of the bucket in its over-travel and its smooth return without shock to its lowering position.

Having thus given a general description of 'my invention I will now, in 'order to make the same more clear, refer to the annexed sheet of drawings which forms part of this specification and in which like characters refer to like parts.

Figure l is a rear elevation of a portion ofa hoisting frame with my improved apparatus attached thereto, illustrating the application of my invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same portion of the hoisting apparatus shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side elevation on a larger scale of one of the dumping guides and the adjoining parts of the hoisting frame; Fig. 4 is a detail view on a larger scaleiof the stop shaft; and F ig. 5 is an enlarged detail sectional elevation of one of the rear wheels of the bucket and the bracket bearing` therefor, also showing one of the channel guideways w and the position of the wheel therein.

bucket, while the other end of same passes' around the winding drum of a hoisting englne which may be driven in any manner desired and which may be provided with automatic controls for stopping the bucket in its upper or lower positions, or may be manually controlled as aforesaid. 8 is the bucket which ordinarily is known as a skip bucket, 9 is the upper portion of the bail of said bucket, 10 is the pivotal connection whereby the cable is attached to the upper portion of the bail of the bucket, 11 are the upper guide wheels mounted on the bucket, 12 are the lower guide wheels also mounted on the bucket and 13 are the axles for the wheels 11 and 12. Each of the wheels is provided with a recess 14 in the outer portion thereof in order to provide space for the retaining nut 19 which is secured on the end of the shaft or aXle 13. 15 are the side portions of the bucket bail, the lower portions of which are each provided with an eye-end and each is further provided with a roller bearing 16 whereby they are mounted on the lower axles 13. 17 are bearing plates secured to the sides' of the bucket and in which are mounted the axles 13 which are secured therein by means of the pins 18. 20 are channel guideways for the lower wheels of the bucket, which guideways are illustrated as upright an'd substantially straight, 21 are the channel guideways for the upper bucket wheels, the lower portions of which are also upright and substantially straight, but these connect with 'the curvilinear guideways 27 and also have upwardly extending straight portions 22. 23 is an intermediate brace and support shown as of channel form adapted tohold the Vparts of my construction together, while 24 are large gusset plates secured to the framework and to the curved guides 27 to hold said guides in position, and the outer ends of the Curved.V

guides are 26. Secured to the gusset plates 24 are the angle pieces 28 and 29 on the ini ner and outer faces thereof, and secured to and Vmounted upon the angles 28 are the bearings for the stop shaft 30, which is pro- Lee/4,915

vided with rollers 32 mounted on said shaft, which rollers 'are further provided with collars 33 on each side thereof.

Secured to the bucket are the contact fingers or cams 34 which are adapted to cooperate with the rollers 32 and maintain the wheels of the bucket in their proper guides for smooth and effective operation as previouslyvv described. The upper portions of the guideways 20, and 22 may be of any length desired to provide over-travel to any degree. i i

Having thus given a description of my apparatus, I will now explain its operationz-The bucket being Vin its partly lowered position, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, is hoisted with a full or partial load into the dumping-position as shown by dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 3, whereupon the lower wheels 12 of the `bucket travel upwardly within the channel guides 20, while the upper wheels 11 are guided into-the curved guides 27 and outwardly toward the outer portions 26 thereof, causing the bucket to be dumped to discharge its load. At the same time the curved contact fingers 34 contact with' the rollers 32 and assist in maintaining the bucket and its wheels in the position illustrated in dotted lines in Figs. 2 and- 3. In case the bucket should overtravel, due to over-winding, the lower Wheels 12 will move upwardly to any necessary extent within the upper portion of the channel guides 20 while'the upper wheels 11 will travel upwardly in the upper portions 27 of the curved guideways and this action is insured by the engagement of the contact fingers 34 with the'surfaces of the rollers 32, thus insuring the travel of the upper wheels 11 within the upper 'portion of the curved guideways 27, and if the travel is continued these upper 'wheels will also movel upwardly to a further extent withinV the' upper portions -22 of the guideways. Then the bucket is being lowered the operation is reversed, and the action of the contact fingers 34 against the guide rollers or roller stops 32 also insures the 'maintenance of the Wheels 11 within'the lower portions of the curved guideways 27 thence into the upright portions 21. By means of this apparatus all the difficulties connected with the over-travel of the bucket are obviated.

Although I have shown and described my invention in considerable detail, I do not wish to be limited to the exact and specific details thereof, as shown and described, but may use such modifications in, substitutions for, or equivalents thereof, as areembraced within the scope of niy invention, or as pointed out in the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to'secure by Letters Patent is f o 1. A hoisting apparatus comprising a dumping bucket provided With upper and lower guide Wheels rotatably secured thereto, upright guideWays coperating With the lower guide Wheels and extending above the upper limit of travel of said buCket, guide- Ways coperating With the upper guide Wheels and provided With curved portions adapted to over-turn said bucket, the lower curved portions of the last mentioned guideways being connected With upwardly extending Curved portions which merge into a further uprght extension of same, a guide roller mounted on the frame-work, and a contact finger secured to the bucket and adapted to coperate With said guide roller, Whereby the guide Wheels of the bucket are constrained to move Within their respective guides.

2. A dumping bucket provided with upper and lower guide Wheels secured thereto, guideways coperating With said Wheels and extending beyond the ordinary travel of said' bucket, curvilinear guideWays adapted to guide the upper guide Wheels to dump said bucket, a stop mounted on the hoist frame, and a contact finger on said bucket adapted to engage said stop; Whereby the guide Wheels are retained Within their respective guideways during the dumping, over-travel and return of the bucket.

3. A hoisting apparatus comprising a dumping bucket provided With upper and lower guide Wheels rotatably mounted thereon, guideways adapted to guide said Wheels and eXtending beyond the ordinary travel of said bucket, the guideways for the upper Wheels being each provided With a curvilinear ortion adapted to dump said bucket, a ro ler stop mounted on the hoist frame, a contact finger seeured to said bucket and adapted to engage said roller stop Whereby the guide Wheels are retained Within their guideways (luring the dumping, over-travel and return of the bucket.

ll. A hoisting apparatus comprising a hoist frame and dumping bucket With hoisting and lowering mechanism therefor, said bucket being provided With a pair of upper and a pair of lower guide Wheels rotatably mounted thereon, guideWa-ys adapted to coperate With said guide Wheels and extending beyond the ordinary travel of said buclret, the guideWays for the upper guide Wheels being provided With curvilinear portions, adapted to dump said bucket, roller stops mounted on the hoist frame, and ciu'vilinear contact fingers secured on said bucket adapted to engage said stops; Whereby the guide Wheels are retained Within their guideways during the dumping`l over-travel and return of the bucket.

5. A hoisting apparatus comprising a hoist frame provided With guideways eX- tending beyond the ordinary limit of travel of the hoist bueket, a hoist bucket provided With upper and loWer guide Wheels rotatably mounted thereon and adapted to travel in and be guided by the guideways aforesaid, the guideways for the upper Wheels being provided With curvilinear portions arranged to dump the bucket at a predeter- Inined location, a curvilinear contact finger mounted on the bucket, and a stop roller mounted on the hoist frame adapted to engage said contact finger; Whereby the guide Wheels are maintained Within their guide- Ways during the dumping, over-travel and return of the bucket.

In witness Whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

MICHAEL EARL LOHR. 

